%C London, UK
%A J Unwin
%B Urban Lighting for People: Evidence-Based Lighting Design for the Built Environment
%E N Davoudian
%X The idea that lighting plays a role in
pedestrian reassurance is not at all new. Laws related to the lit
environment were passed early in the 15th century in London,
when the Court of the Common Council proclaimed that a lit
lantern should be placed outside every house during the busy
Christmas Watch. Likewise in Paris, Louis XI ordered his subjects
to shine lanterns in the houses of windows at junctions to deter
bandits.
1
 Jumping centuries ahead, British Standard 307, dated
1927, recommends minimum horizontal illuminance levels for
streets, ranging from 0.01 foot-candles (equivalent to 0.1 lux
– less than moonlight) to 20 foot-candles (equivalent to 21.5
lux – just over the requirements for a typically lit underpass
under a busy traffic intersection). This range is much bigger
than the minimum and maximum illuminance levels provided for
pedestrians today. So, how did we come up with these numbers?
And how do they relate to what people feel and need? Standard
writers no doubt have the best intentions at heart – they say
they want to provide environments that are both safe and
comfortable to use. However, it is impossible to find the origin of
the rationale behind recommended illuminance levels other than
somebody thought it was a good idea, and nobody complained.
Perhaps as our capacity for interior lighting increased, so too
did our appetite for exterior lighting, not quelled by the price of
electricity, which has fallen over time. Now that the expectation
for exterior lighting has been set, when street lighting is
dimmed or switched off we feel as though something is missing,
something which is reassuring, comforting and lets us see
enough to be able to make a judgement about how to behave in
an environment.
%T Lighting for reassurance
%O This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
%P 56-75
%D 2019
%L discovery10131967
%I RIBA Publishing